Many different concepts and combinations have been used to enhance jewelry. Where small diamonds are involved, it is common to set them in a large metal setting having colors or designs that tend to cause the diamond or other precious stone to appear larger. In other instances, semiprecious stones of relatively large size have been mounted thereon or associated therewith in order to contrast precious stones of relatively smaller size. The contrast may be not only in size, cut and shape, but also in kind and/or color.
In combining relatively large and smaller stones in jewelry, it is customary to do so by setting the respective stones in metal with encrustations of relatively large stones by small stones. This necessitates setting the smaller stones in a metallic setting. The metallic setting is then secured to the larger stone. In some instances, the metallic setting is inserted within a recess in the larger stone. In such cases, the metallic setting not only detracts from the beauty of the stones, but is especially cumbersome and undesirable. In some instances, continuous grooves are cut into the large stone for receiving the body of smaller stones. The grooves are provided with undercut sidewalls and the shape of the small stones is such that the stones fit snugly in the grooves and the undercut sidewalls to permit them to be slid longitudinally in the groove. Such an article of jewelry is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,261,958. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,447,407, 4,942,744 and 3,835,665, the reflection enhancement means have been placed in the base of the stone. In each of these patents, in the base of the stone there is embedded a device which enhances the reflection characteristics of the stone. Thus, each of the stones has a cavity which contains an illuminating element mounted inside the cavity.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,528,261, 3,808,836, 250,379, and Swiss Patent No. 8,275, the lower portion of the stone is made of a material such as zircon while the upper portion of the stone is a diamond, sapphire or the like, and is bonded to the lower portion. In each of these cases, a crown of one type of gemstone is bonded to the pavilion of a second type of gemstone.
The present invention provides an improvement over the devices of the prior art by enhancing a gemstone by bonding a precious such as a diamond to a larger man-made stone such as a zirconia. Thus, a diamond is selected with a girdle diameter that is slightly less than the width of the crown table of a larger cubic zirconia. A diamond carving tool that is cone shaped is used to grind a seat in the table of the cubic zirconia to match the angle of the diamond pavilion. In the preferred embodiment, the conical seat is ground deep enough so that the diamond girdle is just below the crown table surface of the cubic zirconia. The diamond is then glued or cemented into the conical seat of the zirconia with enough glue to slightly cover the crown girdle facets of the diamond.
Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide an enhanced gemstone.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an enhanced gemstone which has a larger semiprecious stone with a seat in the crown table that receives a smaller precious gemstone.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an enhanced gemstone in which a precious smaller stone is placed in a seat in the crown table of a larger semiprecious stone in which the precious stone girdle is just below the crown table surface of the larger semiprecious stone.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an enhanced gemstone with a smaller semiprecious stone bonded to a seat in the crown table of a larger semiprecious stone in which the bonding material is a cement or a glue that slightly covers the crown girdle facets of the precious stone.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an enhanced gemstone in which a larger semiprecious stone has a recess in the table of the crown which receives a smaller precious stone such that the sloping shoulders of the crown of the precious stone are in alignment with the sloping shoulders of the crown of the semiprecious stone.